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tinana's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
woowottreads's review against another edition
2.0
Now, I will fully admit, I'm not that into crime thrillers. Everybody and their butts are, apparently, whether it's literary or television. It's already got a mark against it for me.
But I LOVE things set in the polar regions. I adore them. So I thought it might be interesting to give this a shot.
Now, I realize much of the problem is the abominably stiff translation (which is par for the course, as far as translations into English of most novels go). But it's beyond the translation. The characters are bland and wooden and not very believable, and that's the writing. This book also gets incredibly tedious. It starts out strong when there is a slight horror element. But then the plot and characters become dull, with people sitting around being wooden and boring and grousing at each other, and not much at all happening. It needed some heavy editing and some better characters and a more gripping plot. I felt like very little happened, so the book should not need to be over 300 pages. It wants to be like every other polar isolation story, but it fails epically. Yawn.
But I LOVE things set in the polar regions. I adore them. So I thought it might be interesting to give this a shot.
Now, I realize much of the problem is the abominably stiff translation (which is par for the course, as far as translations into English of most novels go). But it's beyond the translation. The characters are bland and wooden and not very believable, and that's the writing. This book also gets incredibly tedious. It starts out strong when there is a slight horror element. But then the plot and characters become dull, with people sitting around being wooden and boring and grousing at each other, and not much at all happening. It needed some heavy editing and some better characters and a more gripping plot. I felt like very little happened, so the book should not need to be over 300 pages. It wants to be like every other polar isolation story, but it fails epically. Yawn.
tabithamaria_'s review against another edition
4.0
Scared me out of my shitty little boots. This is not the genre I usually read but it was gifted to me as a 'mystery book' and I thoroughly enjoyed. I haven't read much fiction lately and this was definitely gripping enough to get me back into it. Nearly every chapter left on a cliffhanger so I just had to keep reading. Definitely not a before bed book but I made the mistake of reading it then many times. Definitely never would have picked this Icelandic book up but I'm so glad I've read it.
rkrm's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Domestic abuse
adriannepeterson's review against another edition
3.0
I wish Goodreads had half stars. Great pacing, clever mystery, interesting information about drilling for mineral resources, and a glimpse into the traditions and history of native Greenlanders and the clash between the past, present and future for those traditionally tied to the land for subsistence.
morgandhu's review against another edition
4.0
Another solid mystery novel, this time set in a remote mining station on the inhospitable east coast of Greenland. Things look bad - interpersonal relations at the station have soured, one woman has gone missing, performance is behind schedule, the employees on Winter furlough refuse to return, and the two people remaining at the station have stopped communication with the outside world. The Icelandic bank that underwrote the venture sends in a team of specialists to find out what happened, and Thora Gudmundsdottir is one of them.
As in the other books I've read by this author, sense of place and past history are inextricably tied up with the modern mystery being investigated. Add to this a sympathetic portrait of the damage arising from the cultural clash between colonising Europeans and the eastern Greenland Inuit peoples, some of whom followed traditional ways well into the 20th century. I really enjoy this author's work.
As in the other books I've read by this author, sense of place and past history are inextricably tied up with the modern mystery being investigated. Add to this a sympathetic portrait of the damage arising from the cultural clash between colonising Europeans and the eastern Greenland Inuit peoples, some of whom followed traditional ways well into the 20th century. I really enjoy this author's work.
allison_21's review against another edition
4.0
"They could not understand why they'd been forced to stop in this place, where there was nothing. Only a black hole in the cliff-face where the heart of evil beat."
mystica's review against another edition
3.0
This book was creepy and exciting. An excellent horror story if you ask me. But when it was about a quarter of the book left it got slower and not so much exciting anymore. The story was still exciting, just the language didn't impress me. Otherwise I would have given it 4 stars.